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I had mild nausea with kaletra but I learned how to manage it (bagels! - bland carbs always settle my stomach).

I'd just tell myself the nausea was my body's way of saying WTF? Give it a few weeks for your body to adjust and see where you're at.

I bet you'll be in a routine - less stressed - and feeling much better by then...

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"Get your medical advice from Doctors or medical professionals who you trust and know your history."

"Beware of the fortune teller doom and gloomers who seek to bring you down and are only looking for company, purpose and validation - not your best physical/mental interests."

"You know you all are saying that this is incurable. When the real thing you should be saying is it's not curable at the present time' because as we know, the great strides we've made in medicine." - Elizabeth Edwards

I'm glad you made it through your first night alright. I really have nothing to add because I am not on meds for hiv yet. Maybe some crackers and ginger ale for the upset tummy. I'm sure it's a side effect that will eventually go away. Hope you're feeling better.

It may be of little consolation to you. But when we only had AZT, back in the early nineties, I was nauseated ALL DAY LONG for over a year.I remember I had to watch TV, get really involved in the plot of a movie and then stuff some food inside of me. That was the only way to eat.....Not to talk about the terrible musclepain AZT caused....

Knowing that none of the actual regimes is that harsh on you may ease your mind..

keep posting and drink a lot of water.

Hermie

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Diagnosed in 1987 and still kickingKivexa (Epzicom),Tivicay once daily

I woke up and feel pretty good. no nausea or diahrea(crossing my fingers) and the nausea for the pizza and chicken was because it was damn greasy and would have happened anyway. lolz. I feel pretty good. I slept last night like a baby and did not wake up once. WOW, I have not slept this good since October. I really hope things don't go downhill from here if things only improve from here on then I had almost no side effects. I think a positive attitude helps ALOT. Last night (day 2) I took them at the same time and felt my body real warm from my feet to my stomach and closed my eyes and went to bed early and said ok meds "i am gonna close my eyes now and go to bed and you do what you have to do, kill the muthafucking virus and kill it good" and didn't wake up till 8:30am. YAY!!!!!!!!!! I woke up and went to the potty and I actually had a nice looking poo. We'll see how it goes. But for those who are thinking about meds, don't worry so much.

Glad to hear you are doin' well (as well as well is for us). Keep on truckin' and don't let life bring ya down. You can always take a vacation in Sunny CA if ya want to visit (although we had some rain today).

You know Al, it took me over a year to get used to taking these things. I'd look at all five pills + my strattera for ADD and loperamide for the diarhea that I experienced and it was all I could do to force it into my mouth.

But you know, I finally realized that I was building an obstacle in my head to continuing my meds. So I talked to another HIV positive friend of mine about how he takes his meds and that helped me to relinquish that "spell of misery and sorrow" I was putting on myself. Next I also figured out that... DAMNIT, I HATE WATER!!!! I know were supposed to have 8 glasses a day, etc, but I was raised on Coca Cola, Hawaiian Punch and the like and forcing myself to drink a full glass of water with these unnatural beasties was just as unnatural to me. So i switched and now take them with juice or some other flavored drink.

All of this has made me much more cool with taking my meds and being adherent at least the target 95%.

Basically, just make it become a more natural thing for yourself to do every day. make it part of your daily "routine". Hang in there, ya just gotsta get used to it!

it's weird how human minds think and react to things that happens in their lives.20 days ago i was browsing the UAE gaydar page to find the hottest and most suitable guy to hook up with. 20 days later here I am browsing and reading stories of people "like me" having something different, having a BURDEN OR A SECRET for the rest of their earthy lives.There are so many common things between you and me. first we both have the same age and from what i read we are both crying babies . I always considered myself as a baby, and i always managed to make people around me happy.the way you right is the way you live FREE I am happy you didn't have any side effects. and i will let you know when the time will come i will be holding those pills in one hand and saying goodbye to my normal life. Be strong, be wise and welcome to the MANLY land. and keep smiling because from what i am seeing in the pic you have a nice smile lifechanging2007@hotmail.com

it's weird how human minds think and react to things that happens in their lives.20 days ago i was browsing the UAE gaydar page to find the hottest and most suitable guy to hook up with. 20 days later here I am browsing and reading stories of people "like me" having something different, having a BURDEN OR A SECRET for the rest of their earthy lives.There are so many common things between you and me. first we both have the same age and from what i read we are both crying babies . I always considered myself as a baby, and i always managed to make people around me happy.the way you right is the way you live FREE I am happy you didn't have any side effects. and i will let you know when the time will come i will be holding those pills in one hand and saying goodbye to my normal life. Be strong, be wise and welcome to the MANLY land. and keep smiling because from what i am seeing in the pic you have a nice smile lifechanging2007@hotmail.com

Hey fellow cry baby

Thanks for reading the thread. Yes I am the biggest wimp in New York but I cover it up very well. Starting meds is a big step, something that you can not turn back to but it will save your life when you need it. Having a CD4 count of 200 and if there were no meds available like the situation in 80's I would probably not expect alive in the next couple of years or less. Thankfully, it's a bittersweet situation, we have good medications that supress the virus but we need to take them for the rest of our lives. I was soooo scared to start meds because of all the things I read online and to be honest I am still scared but since I been on meds for one week and have had no side effects I can tell you that the beginning went better than expected. I am still not singing and dancing and eating sushi and celebrating with a Martini glass my victory but I am confident that it won't be so bad. I was hoping to be on sustiva to have them vivid dreams and feel like I am high but I guess things happen 4 a reason. So if you need to take meds soon try to stay focus on the positive effects of the drugs and keep to a minimum your fears.

See? I've said this before, this is one of the problems with HIV and the internet combination. People will (naturally) tend to post their negatives, less so with their positives or lack of side effects... or just that they were fairly minimal. We all gravitate to the horror stories.

So you've not even had to pop immodiums at all? That's good. I was taking 10/day when I was on Kaletra, but then I'm the human diarrhea factory.

See? I've said this before, this is one of the problems with HIV and the internet combination. People will (naturally) tend to post their negatives, less so with their positives or lack of side effects... or just that they were fairly minimal. We all gravitate to the horror stories.

So you've not even had to pop immodiums at all? That's good. I was taking 10/day when I was on Kaletra, but then I'm the human diarrhea factory.

Hey Philly

Yes, I was pushing my doc to give me the darn precription so I could start the medication. For being a wimp I admire myself sometimes because when it comes to making serious decisions or fighting I can be a lion. My doc thought I was being sarcastic but I told her that if I already had an AIDS diagnosis then I have nothing to wait for and I wanted to start NOW.lolz.

My doc then told me "You are the first person I know who wants his prescription now" "You realize there may be side-effects to the meds that can alter your daily routines right? You realize that you have to be on meds for the rest of your life and once you start you can't stop" I told her yes to all and then I told her "You know if you don't give me my prescription soon I will have a nervous breakdown and end up in the hospital" I feared the PCP and OI's than the side effects of the meds. So anway I only suffered from diahrea on the fourth day and it went away. My bowl is a little softer than normal but it isn't diahrea.

I don't fast-food nor at reastaurants and cook my own food fully cooked because I don't trust anyone and left the alcohol in October completely. I am not contributing my success to this but I am sure it is helping just a little. I wouldn't be surprise thought if my cholesterol goes up in my labs because I have been eating alot. I think Nutrition plays an important part in the way your body handle toxicity. Anyway I encourage those people who are doing well on meds with minimum side-effects to write their experiences on the website. Most of the threads I read about meds were negative comments so I was full of fears about it all, but everyone is different. Things can change this week and I can be on Imodium as well but so far the first week has been uneventful. I was more afraid of the diahrea because the nurse told me that those taking kaletra once a day had a 56% chance from suffering from diahrea than those taking the pills twice a day (32%). I drink only water and once in a while some juice. I also make sure I don't have stress and sleep my 8-10 hours.Those of the newbies and those thinking of starting meds need positive experiences so I hope no one takes my thread as me trying to make anyone feel bad if they suffered horrific experiences. I too have had my share of bad news so not all of my HIV experience has been a walk in the park and I have many many years to see what these meds will do to me but so far so good. I hope it stays this way. Good luck to those who are starting soon.

I know how you feel. I tried meds many, many years ago and tried them for a short time 10 years ago, now I'm on them again. I know, I know why the gaps?

It seems like my body is able to keep the HIV in check. Though I've been borderline full blown for almost 19 yrs my counts haven't fluctuated much.

I just decided to go on meds again, knowing that this time I'm staying on them. After all these years, dealing with friends taking meds and such, seeing my lover of 10 years getting sick a short time after taking his meds. It scared the hell out of me that I'm going on them again.

I learned one thing many, many years ago DO NOT LOOK AT THE SIDE EFFECTS ON THE PAPER BEFORE TAKING THE MEDS! It can create a psychological problem since every ache, pain or something as routine as sneezing will make you think you are having a problem. THEN if you think you may be having a problem, tell it to your nurse or a friend and have that friend look over the side effects on the patient information leaflet.

Unfortunately for me, I knew what most of the side effects were for the meds I just started this past Friday (2/16/07) since Louie's been on so many of them.

I too just wanted to cry when I first took them. I take them about an hour before going to bed so if I get nauseas it'll happen at night instead of when I'm at the hairsalon working on a customer.

I remember (only a year ago) when my clinic gave me the prescriptions for my meds. I got them filled and then called the clinic back to make sure I was supposed to start taking them. I guess I was in denial.

By the way, don't worry about the Bactrim; they'll take you off of it when your cd4 cells go up. You're lucky - I have to take my meds TWICE a day!

Yes, I was pushing my doc to give me the darn precription so I could start the medication. For being a wimp I admire myself sometimes because when it comes to making serious decisions or fighting I can be a lion. My doc thought I was being sarcastic but I told her that if I already had an AIDS diagnosis then I have nothing to wait for and I wanted to start NOW.lolz.

My doc then told me "You are the first person I know who wants his prescription now" "You realize there may be side-effects to the meds that can alter your daily routines right? You realize that you have to be on meds for the rest of your life and once you start you can't stop" I told her yes to all and then I told her "You know if you don't give me my prescription soon I will have a nervous breakdown and end up in the hospital" I feared the PCP and OI's than the side effects of the meds. So anway I only suffered from diahrea on the fourth day and it went away. My bowl is a little softer than normal but it isn't diahrea.

I don't fast-food nor at reastaurants and cook my own food fully cooked because I don't trust anyone and left the alcohol in October completely. I am not contributing my success to this but I am sure it is helping just a little. I wouldn't be surprise thought if my cholesterol goes up in my labs because I have been eating alot. I think Nutrition plays an important part in the way your body handle toxicity. Anyway I encourage those people who are doing well on meds with minimum side-effects to write their experiences on the website. Most of the threads I read about meds were negative comments so I was full of fears about it all, but everyone is different. Things can change this week and I can be on Imodium as well but so far the first week has been uneventful. I was more afraid of the diahrea because the nurse told me that those taking kaletra once a day had a 56% chance from suffering from diahrea than those taking the pills twice a day (32%). I drink only water and once in a while some juice. I also make sure I don't have stress and sleep my 8-10 hours.Those of the newbies and those thinking of starting meds need positive experiences so I hope no one takes my thread as me trying to make anyone feel bad if they suffered horrific experiences. I too have had my share of bad news so not all of my HIV experience has been a walk in the park and I have many many years to see what these meds will do to me but so far so good. I hope it stays this way. Good luck to those who are starting soon.

Hey Al and Philly,

This commentary is so true. My gut feeling is the VAST majority of those on meds don't come here to share their positive experiences as well. Great Point. With over 1 million in the US, there are only 5000 on here so I don't think there is an accurate representation from those who have no side effects at all.

On a personal note I've been all anxious and haven't even called my doctor yet today because I fear the bad news and now will be facing my own prescription. I wish more would share the good news as well.

My doc then told me "You are the first person I know who wants his prescription now"

I've read a lot of posts about the horrors some people experienced with early regimens, etc. and can understand that where an individual has a bad reaction to one medicine, they may be hesitant to try another. But, I'm still amazed how pervasive the avoiding meds mentality is.

I'm gonna see my ID specialist tomorrow and will ask more about why his recommendation for me was to start right then. I was in the "offer treatment" range with CD4 385 and VL 30k, but I never really considered NOT starting meds at any time. I was actually somewhat frustrated that all the bloodwork took weeks to process, etc.

I had the runs last night. It was scary since I never had them b4. I did eat alot of spicy food and fresh cheese along with a ham sandwich maybe it was that. I am surprised that I had the runs 10 days after I started. It was a sad day last night.

Diet is pretty important with the meds. Really fatty or spicy foods can trigger the nasties.

I really do envy those with zero/diminishing side effects. just like the lipo situation is more or less luck of the genetic draw, so are the side effects and efficacy ofthe meds. All my drug regimen have pounded my virus down instantly, and boosted CD4 count remarkably. But they have also made me bedridden with fevers, chills, constant diarrhea, and the distinct desire to stop breating.

For some of us, these things are just too freaking toxic - and it's not like I am some frail flower to start with. People who suffer few or no side effects, who achieve optimal results, should consider themselves quite fortunate.

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"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

For some of us, these things are just too freaking toxic - and it's not like I am some frail flower to start with. People who suffer few or no side effects, who achieve optimal results, should consider themselves quite fortunate.

Jonathan, believe me, I know I am quite fortunate and I'm truly humbled by my good luck. I wish everyone were as lucky as I have been.

One of the worst aspects of belonging to a "group" like ours is some, like me, sail along with no problems and others, like you, have had nothing but problems. Life is unfair in general but adding HIV makes it downright cruel for too many. I hope emerging therapies hold promise for you but know your health is and has been precarious for too long. You needed a new treatment long before now. I truly hope there is a magic bullet in your future.

Boo

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String up every aristocrat!Out with the priests and let them live on their fat!